Thanksgiving is now clearly in our rearview mirror and Christmas is just around the corner! It seems like just yesterday it was summer. Now everywhere I look I see brightly-colored holiday decorations and busy shoppers, as that wonderful sound of seasonal music fills the air. I don’t know about you, but I love the traditional music that serves as the soundtrack for this season. It always manages to bring a smile to my face and get me into the holiday mood.

There’s “Jingle Bells,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “Silent Night,” “White Christmas” and “Here Comes Santa Claus” – just to name a few. And, of course, there’s the holiday favorite from the 1970’s – the comically sad and tragic “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”

Even though I like all the songs associated with this time of the year, one of my favorites is “Over the River and Through the Woods.” Today, in honor of the season and to help those of you who want to eat healthfully and stay health conscious over the holiday, I want to use this last song title to make a couple of very important points.

This idea actually came to me years ago after I received an email from a woman who was tired of gaining weight every year at this time. She told me she tends to lose control over the holiday and, as a result, erases all the good work and progress she makes during the year. I bet there are a lot of you nodding your heads in agreement because this is a common problem.

With that said, let me slightly alter the title of “Over the River and Through the Woods” to show you how to avoid that from happening this year.

As you may know, this lively holiday song is about making a trip to Grandma’s house through the white and drifted snow. For our purposes here, however, I want to talk to you about what it takes to arrive at a different destination – healthy living during the holiday season. So, if this is something you desire but struggle with, please read on.

As the song describes, if you want to get to Grandma’s house, you must go over the river and through the woods. With a little imagination and a specialty I call “Dr. Sklare word twisting,” the title of that song can become your mantra for a healthier life this holiday season. But first, let me explain what I believe to be the two basic things that consistently interfere with weight loss and healthy living, no matter what time of year it is.

The first issue is one I see regularly here online at Lifescript as well as in my email inbox, and it has to do with honesty. Frankly speaking, there are too many people who make all the right choices when out in public or with friends but, as soon as they’re home alone, they abandon all thoughts of healthy eating and secretly partake. Being a fibber about this may convince the outside world and your friends, but the evidence is obvious every time you step on that scale.

The other issue that creates real problems for people wanting healthier lives has to do with something called shouldism – a Gestalt therapy concept put forth by psychotherapist Dr. Fritz Perls. An example is when you make an unhealthy food choice and then unmercifully beat yourself up over what you should have done. The simple remedy for this type of destructive and psychological self-flagellation is to consistently make healthy choices. This, in turn, helps you to avoid the emotional brow beating that typically follows “I should have…”

So what does this all have to do with that song title that I mentioned earlier? As I looked at the title of the song and thought about these two issues, I did a little word-twisting and found myself thinking the following: To successfully get to Grandma’s house you must go Over the River and Through the Woods. However, if you want to successfully stay on course with your diet and not gain weight over the holiday, you have to go Over the Fibber and Through the Shoulds! I can almost hear the groans from here, but you must admit I do have a point.

In short, honesty is always the best policy. So if your destination is healthy living during and beyond the holiday season, you must stop fibbing to yourself. Start living a more honest life regarding your health. Secondly, for the sake of your emotional well-being and self-image, you must also avoid the “shouldism beatings” that poor health choices create in your mind. You do this by consistently making healthy choices.

So why not make Over the Fibber and Through the Shoulds! your mantra for this holiday season? I know you can. The question is: Will you?